JOHANNESBURG – Virat Kohli once again won an important toss and chose to bat first in the second Test between South Africa and India that started in Pune on Thursday.
Anrich Nortje will make his debut in the only change to the South African line-up, coming in for off-spinner Dane Piedt. India also decided to boost it’s seam bowling, by bringing in Umesh Yadav for Hanuma Vihari.
Nortje, 25, burst onto the scene last season bowling with great pace for the Cape Town Blitz in the Mzansi Super League. Those performances earned him a call up to the Proteas white-ball teams and he played four ODIs and one T20 International, all again Sri Lanka.
He did enough to earn a call up to the Proteas squad for the World Cup, but unfortunately missed out on the tournament when he fractured his thumb while training just days after the squad was named. Nortje had undergone ankle surgery earlier in the season, after struggling with an injury for over a year.
2nd Test. South Africa XI: A Markram, D Elgar, T de Bruyn, T Bavuma, F du Plessis, Q de Kock, S Muthusamy, V Philander, K Maharaj, K Rabada, A Nortje https://t.co/IMXND6IOWv #IndvSA @Paytm
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 10, 2019
2nd Test. India XI: R Sharma, M Agarwal, C Pujara, V Kohli, A Rahane, W Saha, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, I Sharma, U Yadav, M Shami https://t.co/IMXND6IOWv #IndvSA @Paytm
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 10, 2019
India lead the series 1-0 after winning the first Test in Visakhapatnam by 203 runs.
Teams
India: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkye Rahane Wriddhiman Saha, Ravishandaran Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock, Senuran Muthusamy, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje